AlexRich

This will be world news soon. How sad. RIP.

7 hours ago, garyk said:

All I had to do was to fill out a MIG report, It asked if I was vaccinated and I had to show a return ticket. I bought a throw away ticket. There are no restrictions to enter Colombia. And the virus is dropping here fast. You can stay for six months a year on a tourist visa. The clock resets Jan 1.  So if I wanted to I could stay one year.  Safe?  I am in Bucaramanga. And I plan to travel to the parks here. I will let you know in a few week how I feel about the safety.  If you want a retirement visa here it is super simple.. 

About all I can tell you at this point.

 

Thanks. My long term plan is to stay in Thailand or the Philippines but I’m concerned both will be suffering from lockdown issues in 2022, so want somewhere to park myself in from April 2022. Learning some Spanish would be attractive to. Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated.

9 hours ago, garyk said:

Well, I have hunkered down at my home in the US until I got fully vaccinated. Also I had a lot to do to my home here. I am in Colombia now, absolutely beautiful country. After living in SE Asia for years, I personally consider it to be a very poor destination for expats! 

Basically the same scams here as in Asia so I am avoiding them. The air is clean, the food is delicious. I can legally buy property. So many wonderful places for expats to lite it is hard to make a decision.

How easy is it to stay in Colombia? And where is considered the most safe? 

I think I could hack it for 9 months if I had decent internet, a nearby gym, a good selection of foodstuffs, and a decent cafe for coffee. I’ve found great cafes in Thailand, in the most unlikely places. I like to read so am happy living in my own head and I’m no longer interested in too much socialising. I’m not a drinker so the bar and nightclub scene has never appealed. But I also like big cities, malls, restaurants and cinema. So I couldn’t do it forever. I’m lucky with health but if I had a health condition I would prefer to be home or close to a first class medical hospital. So I’d only do it for a short while.

The India variant (Delta) appears to be the dominant strain around the world. Despite a large percentage vaccinated it’s been spreading fast in the UK. The Chinese vaccine does not appear to offer great protection from it, and that is bad news for Thailand. It may be that we will not see a return to something approaching normality for another 12-18 months. I’ve had two jabs of AstraZeneca with no after effects … and I think any danger from vaccination is remote in comparison with the dangers of contracting the virus.  

17 hours ago, 2 is 1 said:

I miss Philippines really much sometimes. Only have stay in Cebu and Dumaquete. Thailand more safe country and many in LOS much better . But if you dont want/need "local" life much then Phil wins . If you live some nice, safe subdivision and let all other haddle running things all is great.

Only when want get some place get driver and go. One minus point in Phil is traffic. Dont want drive there myself. If single its heaven in earth, woman more beutiful than in LOS and more "easy". My own opinion only ????

 

I’m planning to spend time there in 2022 if it can get a grip on its Covid issues. So probably May or later. I’d like to spend some time in Makati (Manila) then Cebu, just to see what it is like. I might look at Dumaguete but I don’t think I could deal with the brownouts  and internet issues. If I don’t care for the place I will move on to Thailand, which should be over Covid by then. 

22 hours ago, 2 is 1 said:

When i hit soi dog whit motorpike i get right away help from locals front of accident place. Ok it was in our village and people know me but help was great! Guy even bring me right away big class of Laokhao and Chang lol. Same time when i drink "medicine" he clean my wounds. Hes wife get her own motor and go to pick up my wife and father in law . After i m not bleed like water tab anymore my wife drive me hospital.

What if the Police came? Do you want to be drinking?

If the health insurance is useless why not simply get the cheapest acceptable one with a high initial payment from you before it kicks in? It sounds like you’d be on the hook anyway if the issue was a pre existing condition. If you are spending 160k you are likely to be okay to fund anything that comes up. I’m going to take a look at the Philippines in 2022, assuming they are open. 

3 hours ago, colinneil said:

You appear to be a very confused person !!!

We are not immigrants.... Yesterday you called me an immigrant.

Use more water in your drink next time, or better still only post when sober.????????????????????

You spoke about Enoch Powell “being right” … he was talking about an influx of foreigners into the UK, yet you are part of an influx of foreigners to Thailand? So by logical extension Thailand would be “right” to kick you out? I’m only pointing out your hypocrisy Colin. Suck it up.

4 hours ago, simon43 said:

I thought Colin is - like most foreigners in Thailand, on a short-term (i year), NON-immigrant visa, with no citizenship, no voting rights etc etc.  Hardly the same....

Sure, it’s different if you are white. We are not immigrants, we are welcomed expats? Sure. So Colin will be fine with being asked to leave?

Or, you are simply a foreigner with no cultural connection to Thailand. Then you marry and have kids, and you stop being a one year holidaymaker. Like immigrants to the UK that Powell referred to. 

7 hours ago, Rampant Rabbit said:

Who never took a  sinlge  dime out of the Thai economy unlike many UK  immigrants  did, and was   unlawfully  treated after his  horrific accident.

Yawn. So what Enoch Powell was in fact saying was that the working and taxpaying blacks were welcome, but not those on the dole? 

16 hours ago, colinneil said:

Yes, he was 100 per cent correct, in nineteen sixty six rivers of blood speech, spot on.

He was cruxified for it, he should have been listened to.

Says an immigrant of Thailand?

I wouldn’t be surprised if corruption was at the bottom of the Miami incident, lax building standards being ignored in return for a pay off. It will be interesting when the investigation is published.

I suspect buildings don’t just collapse without prior clues. Rather you will see some tell tale signs several weeks or months before the incident. If I were at the top of a condo I’d be looking at the building very carefully. Wear and tear, cracks in the building, displacements. Any sign of that and I’d be off.

A punt on a football game is a pretty harmless pursuit, and not the business of the State. They’d be wiser to regulate and tax it. It’s not as if Thailand is morally pure … bars and massage parlours everywhere.

58 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

IMO the bar owners are succumbing to a "cargo cult" like obsession. Even after tourists return there is no reason to believe they will include large numbers of mongers.

How many have spent the time improving the bar infrastructure? Those that think they can just put out the same decrepit bar stools and they will be inundated with randy mongers may be in for a serious wake up call.

Last time I was in Pattaya it crossed my mind that they’d also have to improve their stock selection … to many fat munters in the line up. 

Just over 20 years ago I came home from work and noticed a letter on the floor. I bent over to pick it up and on the way back my back went out. Something in the way I moved caused it. The lower back muscles seized up and I was bent in two, unable to do much. 
 

A physio with advanced equipment (electrical currents in the affected area) loosened the muscles and I was fine, but other than that it will take a week or more for the muscles to relax and you get back to normal. There are some exercises that can help.

One is to stand with your back to a room wall, raise your hands to the sky, and go on your tip toes and move your raised hands to touch the wall. Like you were going to do a backflip into a pool. That stretches the lower back muscles.

Another is to lie flat on the ground, with your hands stretched out in a V, then push up with your hands as if doing a press up, keeping your legs and lower back on the floor. That stretches the muscles too. If you can loosen up the seized up muscles you will recover faster.

15 hours ago, possum1931 said:

Are they? What about all the unnecessary hoop jumping for tourists, particularly under 50's long stayers, and retirees since these soldiers stole the country in 2014?

That joke flew over your head cobber.

I’ve had my first jab of AZN, and get my second in a month. I didn’t feel the jab at all, I sat for 15 minutes and was absolutely fine. About 9 hours later I felt some sensation on my arms and body generally. My temperature dropped a little and my jaw started chattering, as if I were standing in the Artic. Then my torso muscles began to spasm slightly. I went to bed, woke up a few hours later and was fine. No issues ever since. My take on it is that my body was reacting to the virus, so it wasn’t unexpected, and I’m looking forward to getting the final one out of the way.